The Freak, I Call It!
by Deception Alchemist
Summary: The games have all been rearranged! See how the Devilbats fare against new teams. They still meet the awesomer characters from the actual story. OC's galore, since there are made up teams.
1. Chapter 1

_This is for youu Mermaidtetty. I told you I'd get it out on your real birthday. And to those who read FMW, I now have no excuse for not updating. I fired her as my beta (and repeated it 21 times :D) so I suppose it's about time that I get back to it._

It was hot. Really hot. Like seriously, burning hot. It probably was probably why the only plants they saw for the last few days were just some scrawny, brown twigs and such. The dry desert air spelled havoc for their parched throats. Sena swore that he could feel the sweat evaporating off his back. Hiruma's gunshots were even more tiring to dodge, they could send up a small shower of rocks into the air. Sena idly wondered why Hiruma wasn't even tired at all, considering he was lugging heavy artillery and running along with them.

Sena grew dizzy from keeping track of the two rocks.

_Clack. _Oops, he chased after the rock that had gotten wayward as the other piece decided to follow its lead and abandon the poor running back. His eyes flashed back and forth between the rocks.

_Clatter, clatter_. It really was a pain to do the Death March. His muscles were aching. His body was telling him not to go on any farther. His brain was telling him 'It's too hard.' His heart told him to go forward. He regretted listening to it. Weren't you supposed to listen to your body? He vaguely remembered something about not over training in Health class.

Someone was shouting indistinctively in the background. Probably Hiruma. Some banging. Gunshots. Sena glanced at Yuki and Monta. Neither of them was to keen on being chased by Hiruma all around America.

There was the shouting again. It was more distinct this time.

"Stop making all that racket! Sena! You're going to be late!"

That didn't sound like something Hiruma would say. Sena snapped his eyes open to find himself home, his pillow near shambles, and what sounded like a tin pan banging on his door. He lost his balance as the scenery of flat mid-western lands changed so suddenly into the bland desk and the view of the neighbor's house through the window. Sena yawned before lazily crawling up again.

The pan banged some more, so much, in fact that Sena wasn't sure that the door could hold under the banging.

"I'm getting up, I'm getting up," Sena muttered. Some of the muscles in his body still ached when he moved.

Sena crawled out of his pajamas and changed into his shockingly green uniform. He adjusted his collar as he wondered how Hiruma had managed to get them to be able to skip school for a couple weeks. Strike that. He didn't want to know. It smelled far too much like a certain black book that Hiruma was currently in the possession of.

* * *

Sena and Monta were still studying the American Football Monthly magazine they had 'taken' from one of their classmates during lunch. Or at least, Monta was reading everything aloud, and Sena had to decipher the words through the large bites of banana. Not exactly the easiest thing in the world, especially when the reader was more fluent in monkey than in Japanese.

"Who's our first game against?" Sena asked again, peering over the top of the booklet. Monta 'conveniently' adjusted his hold on the magazine so that Sena couldn't see.

"Hm, the Tamagawa Blue Sharks," Monta said, studying the stats the magazine gave them. He munched on his banana, "They aren't very good. Their line and defense are 'D's' and their runs and passes are 'C's'."

"I suppose that's a good thing," Sena said. He breathed a sigh of relief. "It'd be nice to start out the season with a weaker team. It's better than starting off with a game against a team like the Wild Gunmen or White Knights."

"That would be scary to the MAX! Mukyaa!" Monta cried in protest at the book. "They gave us a C! In passing, they only gave us a C! They obviously haven't looked closely enough at my awesome super CATCH MAX's!"

Sena laughed at that. He paused for a second before asking, "What about for the runs?"

"Mukyaaaaa!" Monta cried again. "They gave you an A! How could they give you an A when I only get a C? Mukyaaagh."

"Well the only official game we won was against the Cupids, and they aren't very good," Sena shrugged. "And don't forget, we only scored in the last few minutes."

They arrived at the clubhouse. Sena slid open the door. Suzuna posed in her newly made Devilbats' cheerleading uniform. Sena quickly snapped it shut again. Monta and Sena stared at the blank door awkwardly. It forcefully banged opened again, and revealed a pissed off Suzuna.

"Why'd you close the door?!" Suzuna screeched angrily. Her expression changed as a new thought struck her. "Oooh! You must be embarrassed that such a cute girl is cheering for you, you shy young man. Right? "

She nudged his ribs with her elbow. Sena wobbled nervously at her expression. It scared him a bit.

"Suzuna, we are men," Monta declared proudly. He thumped his chest with his fist, and said, "We will not turn pervy just because the girls are cheering for –Mukyaa!"

Monta's eyes had, somehow, turned into hearts. Suzuna had pushed Mamori out from the changing rooms. She was also wearing the cheerleading uniform, but with a dark red blush to match.

"Hey, hey! I'm just the manager… besides I don't think this suits me…" Mamori blushed furiously self-consciously. She tugged at the hem of her skirt, wondering how Suzuna could stand to wear something like this.

"Recorded in threat book," Hiruma smirked as he videotaped Mamori and Monta.

"Not being honest at all, are you," Suzuna giggled at Monta, who was still gawking over Mamori.

Kurita said good-naturedly, "Well cheering is important. We need the fans on our side."

Hiruma snapped his threat book closed as he walked outside.

"Allright, fucking brats!" Hiruma said as everyone went outside. In his hands was a deck of cards. He released the spring holding them, and they fell onto the table, creating a colorful frenzy of what looked like trading cards. "Playbooks. Memorize them all before the tournament starts on Sunday."

"A-ha-ha! I can memorize them all in 5 minutes," Taki said. He flung his head back and did his Y-balance. The Huh-huh brothers growled and immediately dove into a stack, determined to beat Taki. Yukimitsu was sitting on the bench busy memorizing the cards.

"Hey Monta? I think these are more like playing cards to Hiruma then a playbook," Sena said, looking over the at Monta. He sweat dropped at the sight. Monta was staring at the cards like there was no tomorrow. _Might as well start on it,_ Sena sighed.

It seemed like it just a few seconds had passed when Sena jolted from a large _CRACK_! Hiruma had shot his bazooka. He repeated it to make sure everyone was paying attention. Doburoku instructed the backs to line up for the 40-yard dash. He waved a hand at the closest, Yukimitsu, motioning him to go first. He took a swig of sake.

_You can do this Yukimitsu!_ Sena thought. This was the last chance for Yukimitsu to be able to play. Yukimitsu walked hesitantly up to the bright orange cone Hiruma had set earlier.

"Ready, set, GO!" Hiruma yelled, grinning maniacally, with a bazooka on his shoulder. The bazooka set off, and Yukimitsu leapt up from his position and ran with all his strength.

"5.6," Doburoku read off the stopwatch. He made a note of it on his clipboard, which assessed all of the players, "Shaved off 0.5 seconds from his 40-yard. Good job."

Sena was next, he walked up nervously, but at the same time excited. He wanted to know how much the hard work of the Death March had paid off. Sena got ready. The bazooka fired. Sena ran as fast he could, as hard as he could. Once he was done, his legs nearly collapsed under him.

"Not bad, 4.3 without Cerberus chasing him," Doburoku muttered.

"But my legs still feel numb…" Sena said sheepishly, his legs obviously wobbling.

"Don't complain!" Monta cheered, slapping Sena's back.

_Oof. _Sena fell flat on his face will Monta inched sheepishly away. Mamori was there in a second, covering Sena with bandages successfully making him look like a mummy.

"Hey! Why didn't I get any stronger?!" Togano growled angrily as he was duking it out with Kuroki. Veins and muscles were bulging as they attempted to smash the other into the ground. Togano inched forward, effectively pushing Kuroki a bit back. Kuroki, in a fit of rage of maybe losing to his friend, pushed back, and so it continued for a few moments, pushing each other back and forth.

"Idiots, you guys increased at the same rate during the Death March," Doburoku said, taking a swig out of the sake bottle tied to his wrist.

Togano and Kuroki stopped their fight and looked at their hands for a second before a _brilliant_ idea went off in their heads. They sprinted off in Sena and Monta's direction, yelling, "We just wanna see how much stronger we grew!"

Sena felt the same deadliness that radiated from Cerberus and managed to run at a rate of 4.2 seconds per 40-yards. Monta wasn't nearly as lucky.

"Fugo!" Komusubi said, raising a fist in the air, before jumping Kuroki. Juumonji attacked Komusubi back, and Togano decided to join them for the heck of it. It seemed like the rest of practice went through quickly. Even when it was already 9 o' clock, none of them were tired yet.

"It's because of the Death March. All of your staminas have increased after the March," Doburoku remarked to Juumonji, making a final mark on his clipboard.

"Ya-ha! The Fall Tournament regulars, are here," Hiruma said, as they finished up the practice. In his hand was the notebook that Duburoku previously was marking. "Assemble in the clubroom."

"I hope everyone passes," Sena said nervously with a glance at Taki and Yukimitsu.

"It's alright," Kurita said, "Taki-kun just started, but he can do stuff like blocking and catching. And Yuki-kun did the entire Death March with us!"

"Ever since Natsuhiko was in elementary school, he wanted to be good at sports. He said, 'Doesn't everybody see those that are good at sports as heroes?' That's why that idiot doesn't like to lose," Suzuna sighed. "Even though you can't find a bigger idiot than him. He applied to all the schools with American football clubs, but he failed all of them."

"Oh? Didn't Deimon accept all the applications because there weren't enough applicants this year?" Ishimaru asked.

"Whaa? Then why'd I celebrate getting accepted…?" Sena said sadly as they filed into the clubroom.

"Yeah, but when we got the acceptance letter, Baka-bro already left for America," Suzuna said, glaring at Taki, who was, as usual, completely clueless. Being clueless, he gave Suzuna a thumbs-up and a wink, as Suzuna was ready to bash his head.

"The names that I call right now are for both the offensive and defensive sides," Hiruma said, "I'll be the quarterback. Kicker- I'll do that too."

_So Musashi-sempai really isn't…_Sena thought sadly.

Monta seemed to be able to guess what Sena was thinking and said, "Musashi-sempai said that he'd be back when we became a strong team. We have to beat the Tamagawa Sharks! This time, we'll prove that we're strong!"

Sena nodded vigorously. Hiruma ignored them and continued with his list.

"Next, five linemen. Kurita, Komusubi, Juumonji, Togano, and Kuroki. Two running backs, Eyeshield 21, Ishimaru Tetsuo. Tight end…Taki."

"Yah! You did it!" Suzuna cheered, waving pom-poms in the air.

Kurita threw some streamers in the air as he happily announced, "Let's play football together!"

"Two receivers," Hiruma continued, not fazed by the celebration, "Raimon Tarou and …"

_This is it. It's my last chance to play football with everyone…it's the last Autumn Tournament that I'll be able to play…I want to fight with them,_ Yukimitsu thought desperately. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself when he heard…

"…the basketball helpers…" Sena heard Hiruma say. He looked sadly at Yukimitsu, whose eyes were wide and fists slowly unclenching as if he couldn't believe it. Sena couldn't believe it. After all that Yukimitsu had done with the team, he even completed the trials at the beginning of the year that so many athletes even gave up. Even the basketball helpers themselves looked surprised at being chosen instead of Yukimitsu.

"Doburoku will read off the names for the defense," Hiruma said, tossing the black book to Doburoku. He stalked outside, where Mamori followed him. Sena and Monta followed them, knowing that Mamori would be asking the question that they wanted to ask.

"Why wasn't Yukimitsu chosen!? He did the Death March with us, and all the training," Mamori snarled. She balled her hand as she held back the urge to slap Hiruma.

"Don't be an idiot. You know it yourself. Do you think, that after 4 months of severe training, a guy who spent 17 years behind a desk can beat the basketball team? All the factors say that the basketball helpers are better," Hiruma said, seemingly without emotion. He knew how hard Yukimitsu trained. Fuck it all, he felt like Agon taking away Kurita spot for the Nagas.

Mamori paused

"I don't mean to be ironic, but…as your manager, I'm asking you," Mamori said, looking away, "is there anything more important than winning?"

"…No," Hiruma said. "There's no such thing. If we lose, it's all over. Same for the fucking baldy."

Hiruma took one final look back at Mamori's tearing eyes, and left. Mamori just stood there as Sena and Monta looked at each other sadly. They saw a figure on the darkening field. Yukimitsu.

"I guess it didn't work…" Sena heard in a small voice from the field. "I guess that my cram school teacher was right. Not everyone can be good at sports. It doesn't matter how much I practice, but I won't be good at it. But that's okay. I can work from the sidelines, working on the strategies."

He pulled out the paper that Hiruma had presented them with months ago, even before the Death March, the diagram of pass routes. He stared at it silently. "Heh. What a dreamer I was. But just once…I wanted to play with everyone…Why? If only I started practicing a year earlier…There's still time before the tournament ends. If I just practice more, I'll make it…"

His voice broke off and cracked. Sena could see the sparkles of tears that were streaming from Yukimitsu's face. He started to go comfort Yukimitsu, but felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Don't," Monta said quietly, "it'll just make him feel worse."

Sena hesitated before turning away from the field.

"Sena, the first game is against the Blue Sharks. If we win, we'll be able to stay in the tournament right?" Monta asked loudly. Sena started before playing along.

"That's right! We'll keep winning, until we can make it to the finals!" Sena said loudly, right back. "All the way to the day that we'll be able to play with a full Devilbat Team. All eleven of us, on the field."

They turned around, but not before Monta caught a small sad smile, that said no, he couldn't be on the field.

_Constructive criticism very welcome. Probably need it a lot too ;-;_


	2. Chapter 2

The grass of the field crunched under the twenty-two players' shoes. Monta gulped as he basked in their opponent's awesome aura. It seemed to radiate from the opposite side of the field. Even as he looked at the crowd piling in the stadium, he could feel the terrible truth sink in.

They were playing in the Autumn Tournament.

Finally, after going through that Spartan training, they were going to play. Sena felt his heart leap as he caught a glimpse of the Tamagawa Blue Sharks. Their uniforms were blue, with an even darker shade of blue running down the sides. Long, _layered_ teeth sparkled is they smirked at Deimon. A guy with long silver turned to Deimon, saying, with a cocky smirk, "VOOOOI! Hiruma isn't it? I don't care if you're the devil himself, we're going to kill you."

"Eh, Sukuaro," another player said. He looked up from the bandages he was currently wrapping around his joints, and said, with a hint of laughter, "Don't tease him like that, he might actually piss in his pants."

Sena shivered at the mere thought of what Hiruma would do. While he was contemplating escaping, he heard from the Tamagawa side, "Hah! That shrimp's still on the team? After that American game, I can't believe he'd still show his face!"

"Calm down, you three," Doburoku said, taking a swig of his sake.

Sena turned around to see the Huh-huh Brothers grit their teeth as they head these insults to their teammates.

"If you get kicked out of the tournament for violence," Doburoku continued, "don't blame me."

"If we were gonna get kicked out for that, Hiruma would be plenty evidence," Monta muttered.

A nudge in his back by a certain devil with a certain gun shut him up thoroughly enough.

"I found nii-san!" Suzuna said grumpily. She held her cell phone on her shoulder so no sound could get through across the line. "He got on the wrong bus and managed to get to Nagano."

"Doesn't matter," Hiruma shrugged. "It's not like he could play anyway, the fucking idiot."

Sena and Monta exchanged a confused look before shrugging and getting back to the game.

Through the lucky coin toss, Deimon was attacking. However, after that initial stroke of luck, the game went downhill. Despite the Death March, the line was smashed through with ease by the Tamagawa's, with the sole exception of Kurita. However, Hiruma was no second-class quarterback and managed to throw a near perfect spiral to Monta. Monta reached out a hand to catch the ball, grateful for the quick reflexes of Hiruma's, but in a brief blue flash, the ball had disappeared. Monta spun his head around, trying to find where it had gone, only to find it on the ground next to the cornerback.

"I thought I had the ball..." he muttered to himself.

"Ha! It's okay, they're gonna get smushed anyway!" one of the upperclassmen laughed loudly, slapping him on the back. The cornerback's legs nearly buckled under the force.

"Fucking idiots!" Hiruma roared as he attempted to shoot the Kurita and the Huh-huh brothers. Kurita was sobbing as he took the full of the shots, while the Tamagawa Blue Sharks were clearly being heard saying, "Wow, I never expected them to be so _weak._ What losers."

"And you fucking monkey!" Hiruma yelled, "The ball was right in front of you! Catch it if it's so close to you!"

"Mukyaa!" Monta cried out as a painful kick connected with his bottom.

"Hut, hut," Hiruma called out as the next down began. Kurita snapped the ball behind him and held off the nose guard. However, the other members of the line weren't as lucky, and were trampled over once again by the Sharks. Hiruma, thankfully, already handed the ball off to Eyeshield 21 who veered around the fallen linemen. He continued across the field before coming face to face with the linebacker, Sukuaro, if he remembered correctly.

Sena felt his hands tremble around the football as he remembered how easily and shamelessly this guy insulted Hiruma. He forced his feet not to shake as he ran, and performed the Ghost. Or at least attempted to. His legs accidentally tangled together from his shivering and he nearly tripped over his own feet. Nearly, because Sukuaro took advantage of that opening and brutally tackled Sena down. Inside Sena was actually semi, sort of, kind of, almost glad that Sukuaro tackled him. He was saved the embarrassment of tripping over his own feet.

But still, that was the semi, sort of, kind of, almost glad because the pain was...painful. Very painful.

"You damn shrimp, what the fuck was that?" Hiruma growled, sending shivers up Sena's spine.

"Hiii! Nothing!" Sena almost squealed out.

They were distracted by a loud crunching sound and a screech as a large truck parked itself by the field. Learning out the window was Doburoku who, thankfully, didn't seem to be intoxicated.

"Hey," he said, "remember the Death March. Were you able to push this truck with those wide strides? Of course not, the key to balance is to use small steps."

The brothers exchanged a halfway surprised look as they heard this. Jyuumonji felt like smacking his head.

"We aren't going to let the March go to waste," he stated to his brothers. "This time, we definitely won't let them get through us."

Kuroki and Togano glanced at each other before nodding in agreement. The expressions on their faces were enough to make Monta shiver. He never saw them like that before.

"Fugo!" Komusubi huffed, agreeing with the brothers.

"And I'll definitely beat that cornerback," Monta added.

"Well if you kids are all fired up, then we'll go with a long pass, in case this little fucker messes up again," Hiruma growled pointedly at Sena, who seemed to shrink under the glare.

Despite Monta's previous statement, the monkey was looking a bit nervous and queasy and like he rather regretted adding that phrase in.

In the next down, they held their ground. The Sharks looked at each other in panic as they were forced backwards. They could do nothing but stare as Hiruma took his sweet time looking for the perfect spot to throw the ball. They stared overhead as the graceful spiral zoomed above and right to the spot that Monta was running to. Hiruma frowned. He caught the ghost of a smirk on one of their faces. There was something wrong. His eyes widened as he realized the cornerback raced to the landing site.

Just as Monta laid a finger on the ball, the cornerback struck him in the chest. In a split second, he pushed off the ground and leapt for the ball and _caught_ it. Monta pushed himself off the ground as he saw, in horror, Tamagawa take possession of the ball.

"You—fucking—monkey!" Hiruma roared as he shot at Monta with every word. "Didn't you say you were going to catch that ball?"

"Mukyaa! Mukyouch! Sorry!" Monta stammered out apologies that were wasted on Hiruma's ears.

"Honestly, it's probably better for them to have caught the ball," Doburoku muttered. When he saw the incredulous look of the players, he explained, "Considering the mental condition of Eyeshield and Monta's clear disadvantage with the cornerback, it's likely that we would have had a turnover here. But since the cornerback caught it all the way back there, they have to start their attack there."

"Of course, you fucking monkey, it would've been best to have caught it back there," Hiruma growled, shoving a gun up Monta's ear.

"At least we've got the linemen taken care of though," Doburoku mused. "Their quarterback isn't of very high quality and will probably panic. Monta, that's where you come in, you've done nothing but practice those pass routes. It's highly unlikely that they'll go for a long pass on their first down. And if you can force a turnover, we'll be right in front of the end zone."

Monta's heart sped a bit faster as he realized that he _needed_ to beat the receiver. Even as he took his position, his hands shook. He took a deep breath and waited for the center to snap the ball to the quarterback.

"Hike!"

Monta reacted almost instantly. Running backwards, he spared a glance to the linemen and caught sight of the red clad ones pushing down the blue ones. He cheered silently inside and noticed the quarterback's head darting back and forth nervously. Before he was ready, he threw the ball.

Monta estimated the landing point of the ball and jumped. He ignored the scratches he was surely getting from the turf as he landed, focusing only on one thing: keeping the ball. He did his usual roll and a pose, although he seemed a bit amazed at his own achievement.

"Yes!" Sena cheered with the crowd.

A chorus of "DEIMON! DEIMON!" rose in the background as Suzuna and her cheerleaders pumped the crowd up even more. There was a painful kick to Monta's behind and when he turned to look, all he saw was Hiruma's back.

"Guess you're not totally useless," Hiruma said. "Shrimp, it's your turn again, and if you mess up…"

Hiruma let the words hang ominously. Sena felt several waves of shivers go up his spine. It didn't help that his captain had a cocked and ready gun in his hand that was aimed at him. His eyes look up the barrel and he could feel his legs go numb.

_Oh, great_, Sena thought miserably to himself, _Hiruma's scared me so much I won't be able to run well enough again._ Nevertheless, Sena took a deep breath and determinedly thought of things other then the gun that was staring down the bridge of his nose earlier, the rather embarrassing trip he would have faced if it wasn't for Sukuaro, and the pain that Sukuaro delivered. Which didn't really leave much to him, but he stood his ground anyway.

"Hike!"

The word brought Sena's mind back to the game as he sprinted up to Hiruma and grasped the ball. He silently prayed to all the gods he knew, whether he believed in them or not. He didn't even notice the extra wide gap that the linemen had opened for him as he sped through in near light speed. He spotted Sukuaro just a little ways off and quickly got through the other players between the two of them.

_I can do it this time!_ Sena thought to himself. He furrowed his brow in concentration. As he got close to Sukuaro, the crowd gasped as if they were going to collide.

"VOOOOI! You're going to slow down now," Sukuaro predicted loudly. He stretched his arm to catch Sena in that short moment.

Sena deftly cross stepped twice, _without_ tripping over his own feet. He was tempted to turn around to see how Sukuaro was going to react, but controlled himself and ran all the short way to the end zone. As he came to a stop in the area, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He just barely noticed the referee announce it as a touchdown. _Yes! _Sena thought. He felt a scream tear at his chest as his teammates rushed to him, cheering.

"A…a gh-ghost…" Sukuaro muttered to himself. His arm was still outstretched.

"Wha-a-at?" the quarterback of the other team cried. "Nobody can beat Sukuaro! Eyeshield 21 of Notre Dame. He's not real…yes…that must be it. He's not real…I'm dreaming…"

"In a sense, he's right," Sena muttered to Monta.

As much as the quarterback of the Sharks wanted to deny it, it was real. The talent of Eyeshield 21 was apparent. Sukuaro wasn't able to stop him even once, and even more impressive than that, considering Sena's timid nature, the running back of the Sharks was blocked from going more than a single yard every time. Spurred by the accomplishment of his best friend, Monta was able to defeat the cornerback nearly every time they face off. The game ended with an impressive 84 – 0, considering Deimon's reputation as a horrible team.

"How…how could this happen?" the nameless quarterback wailed. "Our training regime! It was perfect! How could they defeat us?"

"Oh, there was nothing wrong with your design," Hiruma smirked. "It just takes more than that to win."

* * *

"Our first game against the Sharks ended in a total success!" Monta cheered loudly when they were back at Deimon. "Let's have a party in the clubroom!"

"It's only our first win though," Sena said. "Oh! Let's invite Musashi!"

"Yeah!" Monta agreed happily. "He said he'd come back once we were a strong team! A man with a face like his must be true to his word!"

Sena mildly wondered what a face had to do with character. He said, "We shouldn't talk about it too much, though. If Hiruma heard us talking about this, he'd say we were snooping in stuff that wasn't our business."

"Oh! You're right," Monta said. He dropped his voice to a whisper just as Hiruma popped out of a pothole from the ground.

"Well, well, well, did I just hear a plan to warm the cockles of my black heart?" Hiruma cackled. Seeing the two younger kids' confused look at the pothole, he said, "I got permission to get it built after the Tamagawa game. An underground weapon silo!"

_There's no way that it can be built so easily…_Sena thought.

"Musashi!" Monta exclaimed, pointing a finger to the man climbing out of the hole. Said man almost fell back down in surprise. "You said you'd join the team again once we became a strong team. A man like you would never go back on his word!"

Musashi climbed out of the hole before glancing at Monta and turning away. As he did so, he gave the boys a piece of advise, "So you think you're a strong team now? Just because you won the first game of the tournament? It's just the beginning, stay on guard."

"He's right, you know? But don't worry about him just yet," Hiruma said. "Our biggest problem right now is that idiot."

_By that idiot…he means…!_

**If you haven't got the reference yet, try saying "Sukuaro" out loud. Kyaa~**


	3. Chapter 3

"Aaaaah!" an anguished cry rang from the infamous Deimon clubhouse. Juumonji, who was just on his way there, with his_ friends_—not brothers—rushed in to see who was killing whom. To his great disappointment, all he saw was Taki sobbed over missing his own debut. His head lay in the crook of his arm, and as he sobbed, he munched sadly on an apple. "The game against the Sharks was supposed to be my debut! And I missed it!"

Juumonji rolled his eyes as he sat down in front of the slot machines. He waved his hands at the boxes of apples. "So what's up with them?"

"He says they're from his ladies in Nagano." Suzuna grumbled, just slightly sympathetic. "He's been like this the entire time. Even last night, in his sleep!"

"Haa?" Kuroki asked in outrage, "He has ladies?"

"Well, knowing my brother, it's probably something stupid," Suzuna sighed.

"Fucking goatee!" Hiruma yelled as he kicked the door open. "Stop crying. There was no way you could play in the Tamagawa game anyway; you're not even an official Deimon student yet. This leads us to our next problem: How the fuck we're supposed to get you into the team.

"Now that we completely annihilated Tamagawa, our team is a visible threat to everyone. Our next opponents would have watched our game video and noticed that we only had one pass target. They'll mark you exclusively," Hiruma said, pointing a long pale finger at Monta. Monta looked surprised and pointed his own finger at himself as he if he couldn't quite believe it.

"So," Hiruma started again, turning to Taki "once you join in, our passing power will be increased twofold. If you don't pass the entrance exams this weekend, you should just consider yourself dead."

Hiruma bared his fangs at Taki malevolently, but the idiot seemed to not notice. He was blissfully unaware of the danger to his life as he took a few seconds to understand what Hiruma had just said. He smiled at Hiruma and laughed, "Ahaha! 100% chance to pass!"

Hiruma snorted and said, "I highly doubt that. But lucky you, because, besides myself and baldy, who need to practice, there actually are a couple of smart students in Deimon who can tutor you for the time being. The damn manager and her friend are willing to teach you, and you damn well better pay attention."

"Ahaha! I don't need to be tutored!" Taki gave Hiruma a thumbs-up.

"Of course not," Juumonji rolled his eyes.

"Wow…" a girl muttered under her breath. "So he really is that dumb, huh?"

"That's not a nice thing to say, Kari," Mamori said. She glanced at Taki doing his famous wink and jacket pose. She turned to her back friend, frowning a bit, and said, "He's just a bit slow."

"Of course," Kari rolled her eyes, not at all differently from the Juumonji rolled his eyes earlier. Taki, the great idiot, had just managed to confuse the English letters _s _and _v_. Not an easy feat.

Mamori frowned again and suggested, "Maybe we should try a word. He might not know the names of the letters."

"All right," Kari said doubtfully. She brushed her hair behind her ear and uncapped the white board pen. She tapped it on her chin as she thought of the next word to write. "Well, might as well do one that he actually sort of likes."

She wrote _American Football_ in neat letters and looked it over for any misspellings. When she saw that it was satisfactory, she flipped it over and asked Taki what it said. Within a split second, Taki exclaimed out a happy, "American football!"

"…Whoa," Kari breathed. She turned Mamori, who was wearing an identical surprised expression. "He actually got it right!"

"Oh!" a sudden thought struck Mamori. She took another pen from the tray and wrote out two equations. She turned to Taki and asked, "If our team scored 201 points through a mix of forty touchdowns and field goals, how many touchdowns did we make?"

"Obviously, we scored 27," Taki said without missing a beat.

Kari was shocked that he could answer it that quickly and looked skeptically at Mamori, asking her if the answer was right or not. Mamori responded by happily saying, "He got it right! That means, if it's related to something he's interested in it, he gets it right!"

Mamori's happiness was short-lived. "Well, what does he like besides football?"

"Oh…that's a problem." Mamori frowned. "Well, I guess for now, we can stay with football. We can ask Suzuna later."

"But…how are we going to teach him about science?" Kari asked. "I mean, it's impossible to relate biology to football."

"Well, we'll deal with that when it comes along," Mamori said briskly. She flipped open a math book and started lecturing Taki about math. Even Kari was surprised at how much football Mamori could incorporate into math.

Over the next few weeks, Mamori and Kari, with Suzuna popping up every once in a while, attempted to relate every subject they could to football, even if it was the remotest thing possible like, "During this time, 1859 years before football was invented…"

But one week wasn't nearly enough to fix all of the nine and one-half years worth of knowledge. In fact, they had to cram so much into Taki's underused brain, that Kari was quite surprised it hadn't combusted by now.

"Oww," Kari moaned. She slumped down over her desk. "It feels like my brains been turned to mush after a week of lecturing that idiot. Repeating things ten times isn't exactly the most fun thing to do."

"Don't be so harsh on him," Mamori admonished. "He's not doing that badly. In fact, I'm quite surprised at how well he is!"

"Well you must have low standards because he's going to fail miserably!" Suzuna sighed.

"Actually, he can't do that badly, can he? I mean, if I was the teacher grading Taki's paper, I'd be pretty lenient considering how Hiruma goes around spouting out blackmail information," Kari said thoughtfully. "It'd be pretty darn scary. Actually, I sort of pity the poor teacher."

Suzuna frowned for a second before jumping up and exclaiming, "I can't stand it! I have to go cheer brother on, even if he is an idiot!"

"You go do that," Kari muttered sleepily. Suzuna did get up and skipped out the door of the classroom. Kari turned to Mamori and asked, "How can you stand being with them everyday for so long? It's barely been a week and I'm already dead on my feet."

Mamori smiled gently and said, "Well, you get used to it. It's actually really fun, you know. The games are always very exciting. And, it's the first time Sena decided to do something on his own, so I'm just here to support him and make sure that Hiruma isn't too mean."

"You're really brave you know that?" Kari laughed. "Even most adults would be way too scared to even look Hiruma in the eye, and you're going against him!"

"Well, I'm on the Disciplinary Committee. _Someone_ has to control Hiruma."

There was a silence before Kari suggested, "Why don't we check out the guys? It's not like we're doing anything here besides talking, we might be able to help them out or something."

Mamori agreed and Kari followed her out to the field. It was empty.

"They're probably in the clubroom then," Mamori explained. "They might be going over some information for the game this weekend."

And indeed, they were. When Kari opened the door to the clubroom, she saw some books balancing precariously at the edge of the table. Hiruma was on one side of it with the other members of the team on the other side.

"How's the idiot doing?" was the only reply they got.

"He's taking the test, and if you ask me, he's going to fail." Kari added as an afterthought, "Miserably."

Mamori nudged Kari in the back. Mamori turned to Hiruma and said, "He's not going to do that badly. But it might be a close shave."

"Well sorry if I'm a pessimist," Kari rolled her eyes. "I thought you knew that much about me by now. And besides, Taki's a dumbass."

Monta exclaimed, "Mamori! Why don't you join us at the pool? We're going for stamina training!"

"The pool?" Mamori repeated in shock. "Sena, you didn't eat in the last hour right? And do you still remember how to swim?"

Sena said, a bit alarmed at her action, "Mamori, calm down! I can take care of myself."

Kari smirked at Mamori and said, in a friendly, mocking tone, "Are you sure? You need some sunscreen to you know. It gets frightfully sunny in those pools."

Mamori sighed and said, "You can be so annoying sometimes."

"And you love me for it," Kari grinned cheekily.

"You two should come with us," Kurita said happily agreed with Monta's previous question.

"Might as well, since I've got nothing else to do," Kari said. She gave a pointed look at Mamori, "And that way, Mama here won't have to worry so much."

Mamori ignored her and just shrugged and agreed as well.

* * *

The swimming pool was actually surprisingly crowded. For some strange reason, Hiruma had decided to go to the public pool instead of the perfectly good one they had at school. The reason wasn't so strange after they got there, and Hiruma had drifted to mingle with someone else. A someone who knelt in front of Hiruma begging him not to tell his wife.

The other Deimon students tactfully ignored this.

"I wonder what Eyeshield doing now. He should've came with us," Mamori frowned.

"Uh…no! No, he shouldn't have come with us!" Sena squeaked out nervously after a curious look from Suzuna. He had no plans for Mamori to find out anytime soon, he certainly wasn't strong enough yet.

Mamori remained oblivious and reprimanded, "He's our teammate, so you should at least attempt to make friends with him. I know you don't like him, but you haven't even tried yet!"

"Kekeke," Hiruma laughed after he finished his business transactions. He left two men on their knees, bawling out pleas in vain. "Stop worrying about the pipsqueak!"

As if to make a point, Hiruma kicked the Sena and Monta into the pool. The two of them landed with a rather large splash that was instantly dwarfed by Kurita's cannonball. Sena accidentally gobbled up some of the water that had decided to make it's way into his mouth. Hiruma, somehow, remained thoroughly dry, despite being next to the pool. The Huh-huh Brothers, somehow, got thoroughly drenched, despite being on the other side of the room.

Komusubi, following his master's lead, also jumped into the pool with a smaller, yet identically dangerous cannonball. He gave a disdainful look to the Brothers, who couldn't stand the shame of being looked down upon by someone like him. The three of them jumped into the pool in unison to have an underwater fight. Sena and Monta wisely swam to the edge of the pool in hopes they wouldn't be caught in the fight.

Mamori frowned at the violence occurring underwater. "Sena! Maybe you should get out of there! It's getting dangerous!"

"_What_ is wrong with the people here today?" a stoic looking raven-haired teenager muttered under his breath. His dark hair stuck to his face as he pulled himself out of the pool. He parted it to reveal a pair of strange looking eyes (Sasuke anyone?).

"Whatcha talking about? This is way more fun that just swimming around!" a rather loud teenager with shockingly bond hair said happily (Naruto anyone?). He looked like he was about to dive back down to join the fight that the brothers and Komusubi were still in. The blond noticed his friend leaving the area and instead swam to the edge saying, "Ne! Kakei! Come back in! The water's great!"

As if to emphasize that, the blonde made a grab for Kakei's ankle. Due to Kakei's immensely tall height and the slippery ground it didn't take much for the blond to pull Kakei back into the large water.

Hiruma seemed to be observing this scene quite happily, if the tears in his eyes from laughing and the video camera in his hand were any indication. "Kekeke! Damn eyes, he got you there!"

"Hiruma! Don't be so rude!" Mamori scolded, giving him a glare that would've made a lesser man whimpering.

"Hiruma?" Recognition flashed before Kakei's eyes. He stated instead of asked "You're from the Deimon Devilbats?"

"What's it to you?" Hiruma cackled. "What might Shun Kakei and Kengo Mizumachi, the two secret weapons of the Kyoshin Poseidon want to do with a rookie team like us?"

"Hiii?!"

"Mukyaa!"

"Whoa! This dude's weird," Mizumachi laughed as got out of the pool. Kakei didn't say anything but as he heard the words come out of Hiruma mouth, his eyes widened. There were a few long, tense seconds of a staring contest between the two of them. Mizumachi broke it by exclaiming, "Oh! Deimon's the team that you're obsessing over right?"

Kakei paused, as if choosing his words carefully, "Where's your Eyeshield 21?"

"Well wouldn't you like to know?" Hiruma smirked.

"I won't stand for anyone tarnishing the original Eyeshield 21's reputation." Kakei said forcefully. "The original Eyeshield was a strong man as well as a fast one, combined with his amazing sense of balance, he could plow through anyone and get through to the end zone. Yours is so short and small, there is no way he would be able to live up to the original's standard."

"Hey!" Kari protested. "Just because he's a bit shorter doesn't mean that he's any worse than the original or whatever. Different areas of expertise, you know?"

"Kekeke!" Hiruma laughed. "Don't talk about things you don't understand, girly. He is the original, but he's so tiny because he shrinks! Happens all the time, doesn't it? Sometimes he'd wake up and find that he was half a feet shorter!"

Sena blinked.

Kari blinked. And then nodded her head in understanding as if it made perfect sense.

Mizumachi also believed Hiruma's blatant lie, "Reaaaallly?"

"Mizumachi…you do know that's impossible right…?" Kakei raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Aww man! Really?" Mizumachi pouted. "That'd be really awesome if we could shrink!"

"Oh look, we found another idiot that has the dumb ass's IQ," Juumonji drawled to Kuroki and Togano.

"Hm, and here I thought that would be impossible," Togano snorted as he attempted to read his now soggy Jump. "Bah, One Piece was horrible this week. They killed Ace off!"

Kari turned sharply to them. "What!? Ace died? How could that happen? Ace was the best character out of all of them!"

As Kari, Togano and Kuroki debated the tragedy of Ace's death. Kakei's lips thinned as his patience was wearing even thinner. "If you're done fooling around here, Mizumachi, I'm going to go back to Kyoshin."

"Ne! Wait for me!" Mizumachi yelled. Mizumachi ran to the bench where their clothes were laying and attempted to put a pair of shorts on while chasing Kakei out the door. It didn't go very well.

Hiruma waited for them to leave, monitoring their actions through some cameras in who-knows-where. Once they were of suitable distance away, Hiruma turned to his teammates with an uncharacteristically serious face. "Watch out for that team. Kakei's full of natural talent, and if you add with his training, he's a superb lineman. Mizumachi became the ace of their swim team after learning how to swim a year earlier, which just shows a little of his athleticism and determination. Depending on how well Zokugaku trained this summer, we may have to play them, and you saw their height. They're both formidable opponents."

"Well…I was sort of hoping that they were on the basketball team," Kari muttered under her breath. "I don't think I've ever seen an adult that tall before, either!"

Hiruma ignored her and went on, "I don't have much information on them, since they've never played in any games yet, but what I've got is enough to know that they're dangerous."

"But w-we might not even play them right!?" Kurita whimpered.

"They'll definitely beat the Deers," Hiruma said. He ignored Kurita's gasp of surprise and went on, "and Zokugaku has about a 40% chance of beating them. They spent their summer going through Spartan training as well."

"But if Zokugaku wins…that means you guys will play them…" Kari frowned. "And there's hell to pay after that game in the spring."

Sena felt a shiver run down his back as he remembered the game. And how much Hiruma had insulted him in his name…No matter what happened, this wasn't going to be fun…


	4. Chapter 4

_...I felt obligated to update this today X3 Happy birthday mermaidtetty~!_

Yori maneuvered around the locker room. He subconsciously wrinkled his nose as he walked around the steadily growing pile of clothes that growing increasingly putrid. As he tried to dodge a locker door that suddenly slammed open, he accidentally stepped in a probably formerly white article of clothing. It was a sort of musty yellow color. He sorely and desperately prayed that it was not a underwear. He did his best to ignore that tingling feeling in his foot as he approached his captain, Atushi.

Atushi looked up from the magazine he was looking through before grinding his cigarette with his teeth.

"Whatcha want, scallywag?" Atushi drawled after taking a huff from his cigarette.

"Um..." Yori looked away from Atushi's scarred face and instead focused on the little stain on the table between the two of them. Happy thoughts...happy thoughts.

"Spit it ou'!" Atushi yelled. He seemed to be demonstrating the action: Yori swore he felt something wet land on his cheek and he twitched slightly.

Atushi was not impressed.

He was about to yell something else when Yori mumbled something. It was unintelligible. Atushi growled in response and Yori squeezed his eyes tight and asked tentatively, "Did you see the line-up for Deimon yet?"

Atushi looked at Yori with some kind of bewilderment before turning back to his magazine.

"That's what yer worryin' abou'?" Atushi let out a booming laugh that ran shivers up Yori's back.

Yori fidgeted a little in his spot and then fished out a paper from his bag. He held it out to Atushi silently. The latter raised an eyebrow as he grabbed the paper ferociously, eager to get the annoying dimwit out of his sight.

The effect was instantaneous. The hand that held the paper shook ever so slightly, Atushi's face became just a shade lighter. However, as quickly as the change had come, it had left.

Atushi turned to Yori and hissed out, "So you're worried about little _Jyuumonji-kun_? Ya think I can't take 'im?"

Yori didn't say anything and diverted his eyes. Atushi took advantage of this cowardice and opened his mouth again. "You think Jyuumon'i's gonna beat us, hm? Us Pirates?"

Yori seemed to have gotten back his voice to sputter out a vehement denial. Atushi ignored it and went on. "Well then yeh can leave, because pirates are the strongest; pirates are indomitable, _pirates_ are invincible!"

"Jyuumonji-kun?" Yori hadn't even noticed the entire room grow quiet. He turned around to see who the speaker was, happy to have a distraction, and saw that it was Takagi, one of the linemen. He had looked up from his rather intense game of poker, judging from the trove of candy and money in the center of the group of four boys.

"You sure you can take him, Atushi-chan?" someone else from that group mocked in a falsely caring voice. "After all, last year, big, bad Jyuumonji beat you up!"

Several people in the group as well as its onlookers shared a laugh at Atushi's increasingly red face. Takagi, however, remained silent, studying Atushi. Atushi was steadily turning purple. He sputtered out consonants and vowels, but didn't manage to get an entire word through.

"Ha-_ha!_ So he really is all talk," a third person from that group said gleefully. "Can't do nothing to us!"

"Him? Talk? It sounds like he's spitting or choking most of the time!"

At that point, Atushi slammed his fist into the locker next to him. The metal locker. Which dented. "ALRIGHT YOU FUCKERS! If ye wanna figh' me so badly, why doncha?"

Atushi's chest heaved with every breath, and his face was slowly returning back to red. He glared at the Poker Group, who had quieted. The ones nearest them edged away, not wanting to be caught in Atushi's terrorizing glare. The ones in the group looked fearfully at each other. All, except for Takagi, who had turned to studying his cards. He traded one in.

"Oi, Takagi," Atushi growled almost unintelligibly. "Yeh think yer all that, eh?"

"Sorry, I don't like to spend my time submitting to buffoons like you," Takagi said. He looked up and scoffed a little. "You're just a blubbering dimwit who barely holds a team together. The only reason I even tolerate you is because I actually enjoy playing football. Don't make me regret joining the team."

Atushi was silent for a few seconds. His eyes darted around the room, to the players that were whispering to each other.

"Really, Takagi's going a bit overboard with that."

"Is Atushi really going to take that?"

Atushi growled and punched the dented locker again. He strode up to the offending teen and said, "Alright, Takagi, yah asked fer it."

He grabbed Takagi by the collar and reared an arm in preparation for a punch that looked like it would be the embodiment of pain. If it connected. Which it didn't.

"Wha-!" Atushi gasped as Takagi aimed a painful kick to Atushi's...groin area. The hand on Takagi's collar released involuntarily as Atushi bent over in pain. Takagi struck Atushi's wide open neck with a sharp jab from his elbow. Atushi fell to the ground with a sickening crack.

One of Takagi's friends whistled. "Cheap shot there."

"It's not like he could've beaten Taka up anyway. This was just the shortest, cleanest way to do it," a different one shrugged.

"Well, I'm not so sure about the clean part."

Takagi stared at Atushi's twitching body before grabbing his bag and announcing, needlessly, "I'm leaving for today."

Yori waited until Takagi was clear out of the corridor before asking, "Why's Takagi so angry today?"

"Dunno."

"Hey, don't eat the wagers!"

* * *

"Alright fucking kids," Hiruma began. He glanced at his laptop and continued, "Our game against the Karibu Pirates is this weekend."

He paused for a few seconds as his teammates flipped through some stat books. Most of them looked at the numbers without really comprehending the information, preferring Hiruma's short, to the point explanations.

"Their fucking captain got overthrown a few couple weeks. He's succeeded by a Takagi Arata."

"Takagi?" Jyuumonji frowned.

"He's the one that was at the diner last time, right?" Togano asked.

"Yeah, the one with the weak-ass idiot."

Hiruma shot them a glare and they shut up. They silently thanks the gods that he didn't use bullets. Hiruma went on when the room became suitably quiet, "So, we've got this week to figure out how to beat their run."

There was a pause during which Hiruma glanced around the room at everybody.

Sena felt an involuntary shudder as he realized one very terrible thing.

It was probably him that had to do the stopping.

"This summer, they did a little toned down version of what we did. Still Spartan training," Doburoku took a swig from his sake gourd. "They've got high stamina. That was part of the reason why we took you swimming yesterday."

Doburoku gave the first-years a pointed look and Monta chuckled nervously as he remembered what little actual exercise he got.

"They're nothing that we've got to worry about, but just to be on the safe side, I figured I should give you some special training, fucking shrimp." Hiruma siled a devious smile that promised pain at Sena. Hiruma dug something out from somewhere (nobody was quite sure where he hid his things) and threw it onto the table, with a dull, but loud, thud. "Weights."

"Oh, that's not too bad," Monta said, lifting one of the weights up. Sena could hear the sand in them sliding down as Monta tested how heavy the weights were.

"With Cerberus." Hiruma continued as if Monta didn't speak.

"Oh."

"That _is_ pretty bad," Kuroki commented. He kept a wide distance from the, quite possibly, man-eating dog.

Sena would have glared at Monta for jinxing it if he wasn't so terrified that he might not even be able to make it alive to this weekend's game.

Before he even noticed it, Hiruma's quick fingers tied Sena to a rope that looked much too short for his liking. Especially when the other end had connected Cerberus connected to it. Around his legs were the sand weights that felt far too heavy for his liking. Cerberus just twitched his mouth a little as if he was laughing at Sena too. Sena didn't miss the devious glint in the dog's eyes.

"Run, fucking shrimp, run!" Hiruma laughed as he dropped what looked suspiciously like a doggy treat down the back of Sena's jersey.

"Hiiii!" Sena almost shrieked out. He scrambled up, but Cerberus was already much too close for comfort. Sena tried to force his legs to go faster, mentally cursing Hiruma and whoever made those weights. He could hear Cerberus's panting as the dog get ready to leap at the unfortunate boy.

Sena forced his legs to move faster. He held on for a short while longer, but soon felt himself give way. Cerberus lunged.

/

"Owww," Sena moaned as he nursed his wounded arm. He had somehow managed, he wasn't sure exactly how but he wasn't complaining, to throw the doggy treat far enough away from himself that Cerberus didn't bite him too hard, but the dog's claws had scratched Sena's arm mercilessly. He was currently dabbing alcohol to make sure it wouldn't get infected.

Cerberus's claws_ did_ look a little muddy...

Sena rubbed his thighs. They were still aching from the intense running he was doing earlier. Honestly, what was Hiruma thinking? He could still barely do forty yards in 4.2 seconds without collapsing, and now he was expected to do a similar rate with a longer distance _and_ weights?

If Sena wasn't so sure that Hiruma wanted to get to the Christmas Bowl, he would've thought that said demon was trying to kill him.

Or at least siccing his dog on him.

"Here're some bandages."

Sena looked up to see Mamori holding some bandages as she rummaged through the cabinets to see if there were anymore.

Sena didn't bother telling her that he already had enough to cover himself like a bandage mummy for fear that she would recognize his voice. His disguise at such close proximity was already paper-thin, and coupled with the other clues that pointed to who Eyeshield 21 really was, it was a wonder that Mamori didn't recognize him already.

She could be outrageously dumb for someone so smart.

"Should we go to the doctor's to get some anti-infection shots? They look a little discolored."

They didn't. Or rather, they did look different from his normal skin tone: it was redder.

"Mamori."

Kari grabbed Mamori's shoulders and shook her. "He's fine. It's just a scratch. He's not going to die."

"What are you talking about? Mamori asked Kari, aghast. "Look at how deep it is, it could lead to serous health problems.'

"It already stopped bleeding and it's been less than a minute. He's fine."

"Eyeshield-kun," Mamori began, purposely ignoring Kari. "Do you want some painkillers or something?"

Kari smiled apologetically at Eyeshield and gave up trying to stop Mamori's over-the-top care.

Sena opened his mouth before hurriedly closing it again, almost biting his tongue in the process. He panicked as he considered speaking to tell Mamori that he was fine, but worrying that his voice would give him away.

In the end, he just compromised by grunting.

Unfortunately, Mamori took that as a yes.

In an instant, his arms were full of boxes of painkillers that it sort of made him question _why_ Mamori had all these painkillers in the first place.

"Mamori!" Sena thanked the gods for sweet relief from his older sister figure. He would have to thank Monta big time for this later. Perhaps a bag of bananas?

"May I have a bandage? Look how badly I'm bleeding here!" Monta pointed out a small scratch on his arm that wasn't even bleeding.

Mamori gasped, and for a few seconds Monta was quite pleased with himself for getting his crush's attention. And then his spirits promptly fell when all she did was give him a bandage. Monta pouted slightly before glaring jealously at Sena. Sena gave him an apologetic look that his friend couldn't see, thanks to his eyeshield.

"Fucking shrimps! Where the fuck did you guys run off to?" Hiruma growled as he banged open the club door.

Sena winced before dropping the (many) boxes of painkillers and bandages onto the table and got up before Hiruma could shoot him. Too much, in any case. Monta followed him out and Hiruma was left behind to argue with Mamori.

"Mukyaaa! Even when you're Eyeshield, she treats you better!" Monta said angrily. And then he sighed.

Sena chuckled awkwardly and said, "If I could make her stop caring about me that much, I'd be a lot happier."

"Fucking kids!" Hiruma growled from the entrance of the clubroom. He was shooting his gun around in their general direction. "Hurry up and go back to practice!"

Sena and Monta sped away to the field fast. Looking back though, Mamori's head was seen popping out of the doorway, ever-trusty broom in hand. She attempted to whacked Hiruma with it in an attempt to get him to stop shooting, but he easily dodged it, angering Mamori further. She only gave up when Kari decided enough was enough and dragged the brunette back in.

Hiruma followed them inside for a short second before heading back to the field himself.

"Oi, shrimp, forget something?" Hiruma asked in a voice that scared Sena. Sena mentally ran a list of everything he _could_ forget. He had his helmet on, the wound on his arm was bandaged, the box of doggy treats to continue his training was already on the field, his weights...

_...Dammit_

"Catch!" Hiruma tossed the weights toward Sena.

The force of the weights as well as the speed at which they were flying at him knocked Sena over.

Monta stared at the Sena, sprawled on the ground, before shaking his head. He reached a hand out to help Sena up and commented, "It's kind of sad how weak you are, sometimes."

Sena glared a glare that had no use, thanks to his eyeshield.

He strapped the weights back on to his ankles and got up, looking around for Hiruma. He couldn't find him. That was most definitely _not_ a good sign.

After questioning Monta about Hiruma's whereabouts, Sena felt something wet and _slimy_ go down his back. As he whipped around in surprise, his nose caught a whiff of the mysterious object. It smelled like...like...barbecue sauce?

Hiruma was standing behind him, smiling. And then it clicked. This time, apparently doggy treats weren't going to do the trick, Sena had to run away from Cerberus while covered in _barbecue sauce_. If that wasn't suicide, or murder, rather, Sena didn't know what was.

Hiruma pulled out a whistle from somewhere, and he blew. Sena looked around in a panic for Cerberus, and there he saw him. A little brown speck in the distance, and in his mouth was what looked like a slab of ham. Cerberus deposited the ham in his food bowl and charged at Sena.

"Run, shrimp!" and "Mukyra-uuuuuun!" came simultaneously, and Sena did just that.

_How the heck is a dog so fast?_

That was the only thought going through Sena's mind as he sprinted down the field and through the school's lawn and down the street. Although he had gotten a head start, Cerberus seemed to catch up right away and was only a few steps away from getting the treat.

Sena swore that Cerberus was frothing at the mouth. He idly wondered, as he continued running from the quite possibly man-eating dog, if Cerberus had rabies.

Sena risked a peek behind him to see determine how close Cerberus was. He looked over his shoulder and nearly tripped over his feet in surprise. The ruthless dog had disappeared...Sena paused, as he deemed it was okay to stop, but kept walking straight, since he had _no idea_ where he was. And just as he turned the corner...

"Hiiiiee!"

Cerberus had somehow, probably with the same psychic powers that Hiruma had, appeared in front of Sena. Sena tried running backwards as fast as he could to get out of the dog's range, but only managed to trip himself.

Sena was only saved from an untimely, doggy death because Cerberus had spotted a meat store behind Sena that was revealed as said boy tripped.

"Ouch..." Sena inspected his arm to find that again, Cerberus's suspiciously sharp claws had scratched him ruthlessly and he had teeth marks on right leg. Sena wiped some of the barbecue sauce off of him but Cerberus was coming out of the store...

"Hiiiie!"

/

"Hiruma...your dog should play runningback instead..."

"Kekeke! Take it like a man, shrimp!"

/~

Atushi: The ex-captain of the Karibu Pirates. He has a parrot named Polly and more frequently referred to as "Po'y" and even more frequently referred to as "Pie." He got her on with a discount at the local pet store because she mangled the words that she was taught. After a week of learning words, it seems as though Polly can _pronounce words better than Atushi._

One mid-March day, he brought her to school. That day, Atushi was called the impossible. He was called...a nerd. He still hasn't figured out why, but he never brought ehr again.

* * *

This chapter's crap. I didn't know what to write, so I rambled on about one, useless topic...


End file.
